Larry Burns walks between two Lovell Street houses that owns and rents out. He is concerned about Western Michigan University's plans to demolish 10 houses nearby on Oakland Drive and Bellevue Place.Chuck Miller

Larry L. Burns, a former city of Kalamazoo historic district coordinator, said he has invested heavily in four houses he owns near 10 that the university is buying.

WMU's Board of Trustees on Jan. 22 approved purchasing the 10 houses on Bellevue Place
and Oakland Drive near East Campus.

If
a private owner wanted to demolish the homes, he or she would have to
obtain Historic District Commission approval, however, public
universities by state law are generally exempt from local zoning and
other city regulations. But this is the first time where a public
university could be demolishing a university-owned property within a
local historic district in Kalamazoo, city officials have said.

"Once we open this cork, they can pretty much do whatever they want with our community," Burns said of the university.

The Vine landlord said he is concerned not only about WMU's ability to demolish the houses
without city historic district commission approval, but about the speed
with which the university proceeded with the purchase and about what wider
plans in might have for the area.

"Let the people
of this community know what you’re doing, because you’re having an
adverse effect on our ability to function as a community," he said.

Burns said it's also a financial matter, since the 10 properties contributed about $20,000 in property taxes to the tax rolls in 2012. With WMU's ownership, the city will no longer collect taxes on the properties. WMU is buying the houses from the Linklater Wayman Group LLC
of Chicago for $370,000. They had been listed for sale
in December for $39,000 each.

Burns, meanwhile, plans to use proceeds from the sale of his houses for his retirement.

Burns owns seven properties in the city and has restored several buildings, including the former Whistlestop, and is part of a project to convert the former Gryphon Place building into a gym and office space. He said historic districts have helped the Stuart and Vine neighborhood rebound and that he purchased his Lovell Street houses in a historic district because there are more protections against demolition and a higher threshold for owners to keep them maintained.

WMU spokeswoman Cheryl Roland, contacted for comment on Burns' concerns, referred to the university press release issued following the Jan. 22 board meeting. In it, WMU Vice President for Business and Finance Jan Van Der Kley says the property acquisition falls into the university's strategic plan and its goal of expanding its footprint around East Campus.

"We expect the acquisition and demolition of these houses to substantially improve the appearance of an area that serves as the formal gateway to our East and Oakland Drive campuses," Van Der Kley said.

Nearby, the university is in the process of redesigning East Hall as an
alumni center in a renovation project expected to be complete in 2015.

Deputy City Manager Jeff Chamberlain said the city had "never had this sort of situation before" where city officials have to determine whether they have jurisdiction over property in a local historic district after a public institution has bought it.

If the city's Historic District Commission does have jurisdiction over the houses, WMU would have to apply for permits to demolish them, show why it would be a benefit and make a proposal to the commission. Members of the commission would vote whether to allow the university to demolish the houses.

Emily Monacelli covers local government and beer for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Contact her at emonacel@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter.